Gravity Falls: Life of Pines
by Dalukes
Summary: Little drabbles I've thought up in my spare time or apart from my main Gravity Falls series. Includes Wendip and Bill hatred in some chapters - you have been warned. T to be safe.
1. Of Moths and Men

**So how are these going to work?**

 **Basically, these drabbles are just short little tidbits of GF stuff. Some may include Wendip, like the one below, but others may just be thoughts of characters or simple oneshots.**

 **They're not perfect, either - they're just my thoughts on a computer screen. I haven't reread them and I'm certainly not grammar checking them - so don't get all huffy with me in the reviews.**

 **I see you. You're my favorite. :)**

* * *

She managed to finally get her hearty breakfast finished before 7. The morning light streamed through the trees in peaceful waves. This, however, was the average morning sight for Wendy Corduroy.

The 25-year-old Gravity Falls Forestry Officer didn't have a shift on that day. Instead, she was given an off day. She had made her good taste about the situation quite known to the man who was visiting the small, backwoods town over the winter break.

She settled down against the lodge's vintage couch, flicking on the television and finishing whatever cereal she still had in the bowl across from her on the coffee table.

Boom.

The door was thrown open, and in ran 22-year-old Dipper Pines. His iconic pine tree hat and vest were gone, in their stead were a torn shirt and matted hair. He had scratches running up his left side, and a gash on his thigh that was oozing blood at a slow rate. His head was bruised, though not scarred in any way.

He noticed Wendy's aghast expression from across the room. His face reformed into a calm smile as a large animal collided with her door. "Oh, hey Wendy."

She flew up, her nightgown flowing lazily behind her. "Dipper! What the heck!"

"So yeah, uh, funny story..." He leaned against the door, almost being thrown back every time whatever was outside rammed into the door.

Wendy's face changed from scared to disappointed in a matter of seconds. "Dipper... what did you lead to my house...?"

He checked outside the window, two threatening, bulbous red eyes staring back at him. "Oh, just a Mothman... These guys are actually really hard to sneak up on."

Facepalming, the redhead shoved Dipper aside. The hulking, winged grey monster outside seemed surprised at the sudden outburst from someone who was not the man it was chasing earlier.

Swiftly and unafraid, Wendy landed a punch on one of its crimson eyes. The creature shrieked from a mouthless face, turned, and with one giant flap of its disproportionate wings, was off into the morning sky.

"Wow." Wendy turned, seeing the man she had saved sprawled out on his back, staring at her incredulously.

She grinned. "Nothing compared to my brothers." It was then that she noticed the gashes up and down Dipper's body for a second time. Kneeling down, she inspected the awkward guy.

Dipper felt uncomfortable. "Dude, don't knife me please."

Instead, his girlfriend laughed, deciding to kiss him on the forehead instead. "You really need to get that whole monster-chasing thing under control. This is the third time this week."


	2. Mysteriously Indigenous Fireflies

**Here's one I drew up in a few minutes based off of ITB's ending. Yeah, it's Wendip. Next one won't be, I promise.**

The fireflies fluttered around his head annoyingly.

The Pacific Northwest was infamous for being cold at the most inappropriate of times, but this amount of cold was something that even Dipper knew was uncharacteristic.

It gave him a depressing undertone for which to think, something he felt like he'd had enough of recently.

As the tiny flickers of fireflies danced around him, he held his head in his hands.

"Nothing will ever be the same."

The words semi-shocked and depressed him. He didn't even recall thinking it, but the words flowed out of his mouth like the titular falls.

He couldn't say he was wrong. He was actually quite right. The biggest reason why he didn't tell Wendy Corduroy of his embarrassingly large crush on her was because, above all, he valued her friendship. He was afraid that if he told her, she'd be disgusted and leave him, never to be close to him ever again.

That was a risk Dipper wasn't ready to take over the best friend he'd ever had in his life.

His mind began to wander as he stood up, startling a few scattered fireflies who buzzed of to be somewhere else. He knew it wouldn't work. Why was he still so into her if he knew she gave him nothing in return? This was the question he needed to put down, but unlike in the journals or hopefully the laptop Soos found, he found no answers.

Why was she always around him, being cool, if she knew he held this stone backpack around with him?

He couldn't tell. The sun sank below the horizon like his feelings did. He wandered some more.

Why did he still feel this way, though? He had a sinking feeling that Wendy's little acceptance speech from earlier was meant as a warning shot to him that he should stay off, lest his feelings get hurt. She brought up a good argument, he admitted. Three years for a couple of teenagers was a long time. Neither of them felt like adults yet.

But the more he thought about it, the more he realized with a sigh.

It didn't work.

"I still love you."

The lightning bugs seemed unusually active to Gwendolyn Corduroy.

* * *

She sat, rubbing her eyes, on Stan's old recliner at the Shack, waiting for her Little Dipper to return home. She had grown restless after she was told by Mabel and Soos that he hadn't followed her home. She knew she could do nothing; however. The boy's choices were his own, and if he got lost over something as stupid as a relationship that would never work, that was his own fault.

The ceiling lights buzzed with anticipation.

Why hadn't she been harsh on Dipper before?

She'd known for a while that Dipper held the crush on her, but couldn't bring herself to call him out on it. Maybe it was a guilt she felt for the lonely boy. Maybe it was even that she felt a little bad for the boy. Hadn't she been in the same situation when she was twelve?

A knock came on the door and she was thrown from her thoughts. "Ah, that must be Dipper. I wonder why he's here, party's at his place."

As she walked over to the door, she stopped in her tracks. What would he think? Would she open the dipper to an angry Dipper? A crying Dipper? Maybe a Dipper that didn't want to be friends anymore?

No, she thought. The last thing he'd do was be her friend because he liked her. She'd known him much better than that over these few months.

She opened the door to find a red-in-the-face Dipper. "I, uh, understand it was at my place, but I just kinda wanna walk and talk with you for a little bit."

She didn't understand. If anything, he should want to crawl into a hole and die, right? That's what she had wanted to do three years ago.

But his face told a different story. It told the story of a child who, while not embarrassed, looked scared. He didn't want to lose the only friendship he knew would last forever throughout that summer. Soos was older than her, and was moving out for college in a couple years. He may be stupid on the outside, but she knew it.

He'd forget about Dipper.

But Wendy?

As she grabbed her leather jacket and took his hand, walking out into the purple night, she grinned and punched him in the shoulder as all he could do was look away.

She'd never forget her dork. Maybe time really wasn't the problem here. Give it a few years and it may be worth experimenting with...

She mentally slapped herself at this observation, though. She'd pushed it off like every other thought at that moment.

The fireflies fluttered around her head annoyingly.


	3. Unfinished Business

**Hey! So some pretty strong Bill hatred in this chapter. If you're a fan of Bill, I'd suggest skipping this one. This chapter seemed like a logical step the Pines would take, if you're on the same side of the Bill spectrum that I'm on. This ones got some language and some implied Wendip, because I can't really let go of that ship for the life of me.**

* * *

He slammed the door of the sedan roughly, anger shining through his mahogany eyes. His eyelids betrayed his current state: droopy and bored. Desperate bags hung from his eyes like an exhausted bat. A frown curled the bottom of his lip as his true emotion showed.

He walked around, leaving his copper-haired wife in the side seat as he retrieved his non-conformity weapon of choice from the trunk. The brand-new pickaxe had never before been used, it's sheen clear and free of scratches or gnarls.

Holding the tool in his hand, the young man looked up towards the imposing Gravity Falls forest. A huff of determination overcame him as he started down the devil's path.

Ten years before, this site had been one of a dramatic battle between himself and a demon; one he had needed outside help from his two great uncles from. The thought of his great uncles, however, brought a stray tear to his eye, and he shoved it away, remembering the reason he was here.

Within steps he found it.

The demon had been hiding away this entire time, cryogenically frozen in a casket of stone, forever in the same position it was in before it attempted to take over his great uncle's mind. This was the only remainder of the Armageddon that never came to be.

It amused him, somehow. To see the demon that had been terrorizing the Pines family for far too long, only being able to exist in its own stone outline.

It brought a smile to his face. He spoke callously. "Bill Cipher. Took me long enough to find you, eh?"

He could have sworn the pupil on the statue redirected itself to look at him. No; it did, swiveling in its stone glory.

Dipper Pines did not back down. "You see this Bill? This pickaxe? You know that if I destroy this stone version of you, you will never be able to take physical form ever again. Not even through possession."

The eye of the dream demon seemed to shrink in fear as Dipper patted the hilt of the axe in his hand, terrorizing his terrorizer with all the maniac evil he could muster.

It felt good.

He raised his arm back, preparing a swing. "Bill, you should have known this was coming. I hate you. I hate you. We all do.

"I'm gonna kill you."

He reached back and swung with all his might, the needle end of the axe coming to contact with the stone demon's open eye. As it connected, a shockwave of yellow burst from the stone statue and through the forest like an explosion. The young man could have sworn he heard a pained scream from somewhere, muffled and scared.

Bill's essence was dying.

Dipper turned, a malicious face donning him. "You know what you did, Cipher! You tried to kill this town! You tried to kill me! Hell, you even succeeded in killing Grunkle Stan."

He took a second to ponder what he just said. Yes, they had explained it to him as a heart attack. They had tried to tell him it was heart failure. But his Grunkle Stan had not been a smoker, nor had any heart abnormalities. He didn't smoke so as to put up a 'nice guy' façade to the visiting kids to the Mystery Shack.

He was even screaming as he died, they said. Something incoherent.

Something backwards.

He turned and swung again, chips of false gold flying away from the stony statue with every swing Dipper put in.

"This is for taking over my body that one time!"

Crack.

"This is for Weirdmageddon!"

Crack.

"This is for almost killing Wendy during pregnancy!"

Cra-ack.

He stared at the statue, exhausted. The bottom of the chipped and torn eye drooped down, absolute terror filling the 'face' of the stone demon. With every connection Dipper made, a scream and a wave of gold flowed throughout the valley and forests, heard by no one and screamed by many.

Hands on his knees, Dipper looked at his bloody palms. The demon was trying to fight back.

" _Pine tree...!_ " He heard a distant whisper.

He tensed up, hatred for the Masonic demon flowing through him.

" _Pine tree... You're... Killing me!..?_ "

He stood up again, anger rekindled. "No, Bill. I'm ending you."

He stood back, readying another swing. " _...I'll give you anything...! Money... fame... the secrets of the universe...!_ "

"Not gonna happen, Bill." He took a step forward.

"This is for messing with the Pines family!" He yelled, swinging. "See you in hell, bastard!"

There was no mercy. The swing connected, sending the larges shockwave and scream throughout the valley. The statue shattered, raining horrifyingly human-like blood upon the young man as his feet gave way and he kneeled before the slain demon.

Bill Cipher was dead.

He stared at his hands. The deed was done.

Bill Cipher was finally dead.

In a few minutes he returned to his car. His wife sat, waiting, shivering softly until he returned. "You finish the thing, dude?"

He nodded solemnly, placing the bloodied pick in the back seat instead of the trunk. "Yeah. He's dead."

She sighed, putting her hand on his shoulder. "Dip, you didn't have to do that. He's been—"

"Dead?" He finished for her. "You and I both know damn well that's not true. He would have come back. Someday. Maybe not when we're alive, but as long as he had that stone form, he could have come back."

Wendy Pines sighed, knowing he was right. "Did you really have to kill a family member, though?"

"He's not a Pines anymore." Dipper concluded after a long pause, pulling out of the park and back towards Soos' Mystery Shack. "Bill never really was in the first place."


	4. Steady

**So after writing something increadiby dark like the last chapter, I decided the next logical step was to make a complete one-eighty and do something wendippy. So I bore this quickie in fifteen minutes at 11 pm.**

 **...what am I?**

 **Anyway, I've also noticed that the last fic I wrote with Ford kinda painted him as the antagonist. I don't hate him at all, actually. I associate him a lot with my own grandfather, except my grandpa is just as smart but more family-minded.**

 **Which is why Ford is family-minded in this! Enjoy!**

* * *

The door to his study opened slowly, creaking and groaning with an age older than his own. He jerked; he'd never known anyone had actually found his secret library, more or less find the hidden doorway leading into it.

A cautious young man stepped a few feet into the dim lantern light. Standing taller than he did ten years ago, Dipper Pines shrunk into the form of a scared man. "Um, I'm sorry Grunkle Ford..."

The older man, surprised by Dipper's appearance, immediately straightened his aging back and stood up to meet his great nephew. "Oh, it's no problem Dipper. To what do I owe this meeting at nine a.m.?"

Dipper couldn't help but laugh softly at the irritated backhand joke his great uncle had laid down, but his mind was preoccupied at the moment. "Oh, thanks Grunkle Ford. Actually... It's something real important. I'm real unsteady about it."

The scientist rubbed his chin. He understood his great uncle probably more than the kid's grandfather did. "What's been eating at you, Dipper my boy? There's no need to be unsteady. Sit down, sit down."

Taking the oak seat his great uncle had offered him, Dipper sat for a few seconds in silence, staring at the floorboards. Stanford sat waiting. Normally when he studied something, he was searching for the right words. He knew this because he owned the same trait.

"So Wendy and I are going out today." Dipper finally spoke, rubbing his left wrist with his right hand.

Ford nodded. "I see. Is there something wrong with that?"

Dipper's eyes widened and he shook his hands in front of him violently. "No, nonono, Grunkle Ford. It's actually the opposite of... of something wrong. Uh, well, I've been dating her for a long time, you see—seven years, I think."

Understanding where this topic was going, Ford decided to keep it quiet and show no signs of recognition. He wanted to test the boy, to see if the young man could muster up the courage to even talk about it on his own. In his own way, this was him being excited for the young couple. Marriage was a deep thing, even someone who had never married could understand that. He himself had almost proposed to a girl after a year of dating - before the accident with the portal occurred. Dipper and Gwendolyn had been dating for seven years.

Dipper rubbed his fingers. "I, uh..." Unable to think of words to say, he fumbled around in his trouser pockets for a bit until he pulled out a small, humble black box.

"I'm proposing to her today."

Ford nodded. Dipper couldn't read his expression. The older man had his head tilted just the right way so that the lantern light in the room covered his face.

"I... I'm sorry for coming to you about this, I know Mabel would have–"

He felt strong arms pull around him. The faint sound of a sniffle could be heard, and the six-fingered hand on his shoulder quivered softly.

"Dipper," the old man choked on a sob. "I know I've said this a few times, but you're the closest to a son I feel like I've ever had. I'm so... proud of you, my boy."

Without seeing his great uncle's face, Dipper smiled as he felt a tear well up. "Thank you, Grunkle Ford."

The older man stepped back, hands still on the younger man's shoulders. "Well then. You were gonna ask me to help you, right? Well, I may not know how to get the girl, but I can teach you to tie a tie..."

* * *

"Wow, Dipper. I can't believe how beautiful this place is." The copper headed woman stared out into the expansive valley surrounding the town of Gravity Falls below. The self-proclaimed lumberjack princess had seen the falls from a multitude of heights and angles, but none had been as gorgeous as this.

The man beside her breathed in the air. "Yeah. Ford showed me this spot nearly ten years ago, right before Weirdmageddon. It's apparently the spot of an ancient UFO, but it's a lot more tranquil if you see it as a beautiful hill.

His girlfriend nodded, ignoring most of the alien parts and trying to get a read on Dipper's expression. "Yeah, dude. Kinda weird. So what were we doing out here, anyway?"

Dipper froze. His sweater vest and slacks seemed like a heating furnace now, cooking him from the inside. He had to admit, Ford's fashion sense was impeccable, but sometimes even the most brilliant of plans fail with the slightest of problems.

Especially if the problem was a 6-foot-three redhead named Gwendolyn Blerble Corduroy.

"Oh, uh, I just wanted to share this with you." Dipper lied, hoping she wouldn't notice. His fiancé-to-be gave him a weird look, but shrugged it off as she snagged his hand and laid her head in the crook of his neck.

Worried, the young man stole a look towards the car roughly thirty-five feet behind them. Inside sat their impromptu chauffeur, tapping six fingers on the dashboard.

Seeing his great nephew look over in anxiety, he held a hand up.

"Steady, Dipper. Everything will be alright."

Of course his nephew couldn't hear him, but it felt right just saying it as if the boy would hear it.

He saw the young man take a deep breath, then turn to his girlfriend. Ford could not see the words exchanged, but knew he was probably transferring the focus whatever conversation she had started back to an original point.

He watched them for a second, a sad grin forming his face. Of course, not being married to him had always sucked. A hopeless romantic until the end, he'd spent multiple days thinking about the important girls in his life to no avail. Maybe it was his hand, or his personality.

He shrugged it off. It wasn't about him now. It was about Dipper.

In an instant, Ford didn't know how, but Dipper was on his knee. Wendy's hands shot up to her mouth, painting her surprise soundlessly to Ford in the cab of the old 1962 Chevy. Words were exchanged, and within seconds, Dipper was hugging a very ecstatic young woman with some new hardware on her finger. Kissing him incessantly, Wendy made it so that Dipper almost had to drag himself to turn to the car.

He gave Ford an awkward smile, Wendy turning and jumping up and down, screaming wordlessly and showing off the gold on her finger. Ford smiled, watching these kids grow up was the greatest thing he'd ever experienced.

Dipper offered a hand, steady like his own.

Ford, unable to keep from crying anymore, offered up his own as he fought back tears of joy.

"Everything's steady."


	5. When He Knew

**Here's another short Wendip one. Time elapsed: fifteen-twenty minutes. I'm really good at writing good concepts into literally three paragraphs. Not the best for novelty, though.**

* * *

It had been two summers since Dipper had first arrived in Gravity Falls when he knew.

Movie time with Wendy Corduroy had evolved from watching horrible attempts at motion pictures from the Gravity Falls local broadcast system into watching relatively good films with the seventeen year old redhead. In the dark.

With her door locked.

It was a particularly hot July day, specifically, in 2014 when Dipper Pines knew. The thirteen-year old was wrist deep in a ball of popcorn with the sixteen-year old lumberjill happily sipping away at an iced tea while she had secretly stuffed the CD she had grabbed from the local Redbox into the disc player of the Shack's living room television.

It flickered for a bit. Dipper frowned, looking over to his previous crush. "Wendy, what did you put in today? I swear if it's another horror film like last time–"

"Relax, dude. Chill." She handed him the dvd case.

After briefly reading over the title, Dipper felt sick to his stomach. "Great, Wendy. You've managed to find something worse than a slasher flick."

"C'mon, Dipper. Romance isn't that bad." She finished her iced tea, looking at the empty bottle with disgust as if it was messing with the wrong seventeen year old. After tossing it carelessly behind her, she laughed at Dipper's bright scarlet face.

"I get to pick next time." Dipper groaned, setting in for the long haul. This'd be an ordeal.

The movie, to Dipper's dismay, stretched endlessly into the night. It didn't hold even a shred of interest in him. The Hallmark movies were all the same, anyway. Minutes seemed to pass by slowly. However, as he checked up on Wendy every thirty seven and a half seconds (that's approximate, by the way. He wanted it to seem random) he noticed that she seemed content lying on her gut next to him. If she was happy, he was happy.

Near 1:30 in the morning, the pitch black window behind him cooed with wind and he fought back urges to fall asleep. The light from the near-mute TV enveloped him and his burning eyes. "Hey, Wendy... the movie's almost over, should..."

A turn to the copper-headed girl revealed a sleeping Wendy perfectly content snuggling up to his arm. The young man couldn't help but smile just the slightest bit. The "simple crush" his sister and even himself had tried to kill multiple times was nowhere near going away. His mother had mentioned something about "true love" but he was never really into any of that sappy stuff anyway.

He was fourteen. A real man. His oft-disregarded driver's permit said so. He had no time for gushy stuff.

But Wendy on the other hand...

She groaned softly into his arm as he tried to move it. Cringing, he tried slowly easing out of the grasp of the teenage dream before his mind caught the better of him. He didn't know what kind of training she did for the apocalypse, but that damn thing gave her the grip of a bear trap.

"Wendy." He hissed silently, blush flooding his face unconsciously. The girl moaned again, but still would not budge an inch. In fact, she snuggled up closer to the arm in question.

"Dipperrrr..." She sang softly as she turned her sleeping head away from him. He stopped; he needed a minute to think about all of this. Before he had just thought the girl was cuddling up to his arm because she didn't have the panduck.

Now recent events were starting to make sense.

The eagerness to go adventuring with him, to try to crack codes with him. The blushing as he talked about her future with the rest of the guys.

"I'll never leave you, silly." He had jokingly said. He passed the deep scarlet expression off as some girl thing.

Apparently, he was sorely mistaken.

The sleeping next to him at the camp out the week prior, the breakfast in bed when he was sick, and now the movie.

He felt so proud of himself for solving the mystery himself. An evil grin rose upon his face.

"Wendy... wake up..." He cooed.

The bumbling form of the read head stirred. She turned to face him, still latched to his arm like a leech. "Whyyy, Dippy...?"

"Because I love you."

The three words shook the fourteen year old as he said them. He hasn't used the 'L' word since the fiasco inside of his great uncle Ford's bunker two years before. After two seconds of pondering, he realized what he had said was true. What else could a two-year crush that had the same tendency to die as a cockroach mean? After that condideration, the phrase didn't seem to phase him that much.

Who it did phase was the sleepy redhead beside him, who blushed a deep crimson and jerked awake immediately to the sound of the Pine's kid's laughter.

* * *

"You're lucky I wasn't cognitive enough to realize what you were saying, or else you may not have known it, you Piedmont Punk!"

He shakes it off seven years later. "No, Wendy. You're lucky I still had that weird crush on you still. Two more days, and it would have been completely gone. I was almost there, too, but nooo... somebody decided that then was the perfect time to think I was oddly kissable."


	6. Part of the Family

**Part of me has always thought that Wendy's lack of mother in the show was a big additive for her stress and sadness. But the Pines always seem like one to fix that sort of problem with relative ease. Meet Emily Pines, everybody!**

* * *

The crowd cheered as the dance slowed down, countless senior high school girls screaming and yelling in joy with their estranged mothers. The lights of Northwest High School in downtown Gravity Falls dimmed as the large DJ flipped the music to a softer, more elegant tune.

"Ladies, thank you all for coming to Gravity Falls' fourteenth annual Mother-Daughter graduation kick-off!" He yelled, earning himself a cheer from the crowd.

All except for one.

Gwendolyn Corduroy, for what she was sure was the first time in her life, felt alienated. Every girl in the place was happily skipping and dancing along with their mothers without a care in the world. None of them seemed to care that the redhead in the corner of the raucous gym without a mom was slowly tearing up. The green dress her father had spent a hundred dollars on suddenly seemed to stick out to her without the accompaniment of a woman to call her own mother.

She had began crushing the solo cup in her hand a while ago; she didn't remember how long. She didn't even know why she had come in the first place. Somehow, Dipper had talked her into it, and her father, Daniel, seemed equally keen on her going to the parental dance and kickoff for the girls' graduation in a few months.

Tambry was off her phone for the first time in months, happily gabbing with her mother who Wendy was sure she'd never seen offline either. A few other girls were actually dancing to the mix as the man at DJ - who looked oddly familiar to her, but she couldn't point out why - jammed out himself.

She sighed, talking to herself. "I should probably leave. I don't want anyone seeing me this pitiful."

She was the coolest girl in school. She'd turned down every guy within a twenty mile radius at some point in her life. Even Soos wasn't saved from her pre-relationship wrath. The first day she walked in to the Shack, her first words to him were "I'll never date you, so don't even ask."

She was a weird child back when she was twelve.

But that was six years ago. Back when she still had a mother.

Denise Walton Corduroy was the mother any lumberjack would need. She was rough-and-tumble, had a mean streak a mile wide, and was the most caring person any human being could come across. She shuddered, remembering the car crash that took her mother's life ten years prior to this exact date. The drunkard who killed her mother was still alive and free, living in southern Washington and probably getting DUIs ever Saturday.

A loud crink returned her attention to the crumpled mess of a cup now resting in her hand. Slumping against a wall and sliding down into a ball, it was all she could do to not cry in front of everyone.

Everyone else had a mom. Why didn't she?

"Hey. Wendy, is it? Are you okay?"

She gasped, looking up. The unfamiliar voice seemed full of concern and love, one that reminded her of her own mother not that long ago. The woman was shorter than she was, dressed in a red blouse and skirt with few sequins and two white dress shoes that accentuated her dainty feet. Her hair was done up in a beautiful way, and her eye shadow itself was overshadowed by the worry in her eyes.

"Y-yeah." Wendy responded after a while, straightening and standing up. "I'm Wendy Corduroy. Why are you asking?"

The woman stuck out her hand. "My name is Emily Pines. I'm Dipper and Mabel's mother."

Confused, the young lumberjill shook the woman's hand slowly. "Uh, hi Mrs. Pines."

"It's just Emily." The woman stated. Wendy's shoulders slumped as she began to feel comfortable around the woman she'd never seen before in her life. Dipper's description of his mother fit the woman very well. She looked a lot like Mabel, even resembling the voice of her loud and brash daughter, and her deep brown eyes resembled Mabel's very closely. She seemed more outgoing, extroverted and loud than her son had described to Wendy, but the girl didn't care at that point.

"Dipper said that you might need me here today." Emily said, tapping her chin in thought. "He said your mother died a while ago. I'm so sorry, honey."

Wendy's dry eyes reared up. Dipper had sent his own mother to the dance because she didn't have one to go with. A smile stretched its way across her face as a small stream of tears began rolling down each cheek.

Without warning, she bolted into the interim mother's arms, laughing and crying at the same time. "Thank you, t-thank you Emily. You don't know how much I needed this."

She couldn't see, but the older woman was smiling ear to ear. "It's okay, honey. You're part of our family, whether you know it or not. Dipper talks a lot about you, and I know you've been dating for a while, but he's got plans to keep the thing going for a long time."

Wendy, through her tears, made a mental note to thank Dipper for that night. Everything came together as she danced the night away with her new semi-mother. There was no doubt in her mind that the woman would become her mother-in-law in a few years time.


	7. I'm Too Old For You

**Dipper ponders his crush on Wendy after the events of ITB. Enjoy!**

* * *

"I'm too old for you."

How long had it been? Minutes? Hours? A day? Dipper didn't know. He didn't want to know. All he knew was that he'd been staring at the ceiling for a long time.

A few hours ago, his crush turned him down. No, that was too lenient; she didn't turn him down. He explained his crush as what it was: a roadblock between their friendship.

Or was it?

He knew clearly his thoughts on the situation. Wendy, to him, was the most amazing, beautiful girl he'd ever met. She never treated him like the other girls. He wasn't trash underfoot - he was something to be valued.

He smiled. Wendy had treated him like... like a sister. Like Mabel would. Maybe that's why he fell in love with her in the first place.

Wait... fell in love?

He thought about it for a second. It didn't take him long to come to a conclusion.

No. This was not a simple crush. He himself tried to kill it multiple times, and now that Soos and Mabel will inevitably be on the case, they'll try to kill it too. It won't work. He knows now, he loves Wendy Corduroy.

But what of Wendy's thoughts on him? He was surprised she wasn't disgusted at his confession. She'd even ran along with him for what must have been weeks after she'd first found out he held a massive crush on her. Why? Was she leading him along?

No. She wouldn't do that. She was too nice.

So why then?

Was it possible that Wendy held some form of affection for him? Maybe like a brother/sister thing? Or was it more? He noticed that she laughed harder at his jokes than at her friends'. He knew that wasn't because he was younger or she felt sorry for him. She'd told him multiple times that he was one of the most mature guys she knew. She looked at him like she looked at her brothers.

Then the conversation after the escape from the author's bunker rose again. The pain and embarrassment he felt resurfaced like a lump in his chest, and he coughed it down, hoping not to wake his sleeping twin.

"I'm too old for you."

He cringed. The words made him seem pathetic; a louse scratching at her beautiful fiery locks just like every other guy she'd ever turned down.

He pondered it again.

" _I'm_ too old for _you_."

His breath hitched as he came to a realization. The problem, according to her, was not with him.

It was with her.

He rose as adrenaline rose through him. He may have a chance! He may still have a chance to date her! He knew she wasn't leading him along! He knew ther was a reason she hung out with him all the time! It wasn't to be friends - sure that was half of it - but she also wanted him to like her! ...Maybe. Maybe he as overthinking things again.

He looked over to his sister. "Mabel."

His whispering voice carried nowhere, but he kept his silent thoughts moving. "I won't stop having a crush on Wendy. She's waiting for me to grow up. Then I'll try again.

"You can try tearing me away all you want. I won't stop loving her, just like she won't stop loving me."

Little did he know, eight years in the future, he'd be doing the same: staring at his ceiling in deep thought. But what was different was not only what it was about, but now the redheaded wife who was sleeping alongside him.


	8. The Walk

**Hey! I'm back here! I needed a little bit of a break from writing part two of the first episode of GFTMC, so I decided to write a short drabble here. The basic of this piece is that Dipper, with feelings for** **both Pacifica and Wendy, asks out Pacifica and is turned down so harshly that it embarrasses him in front of a lot of people.**

 **So yeah, Pacifica fans may want to skip this one.**

 **This can be considered Wendip, if you squint, but it's mainly just a piece of Wen-dip friendship fluff. It's a part of the timeline of this series, though, so we know that eventually they get together. Maybe even this summer...?**

 **I'm sorry.**

* * *

What was it about him that made the girls turn away?

His bike sped down the gravel backwoods roads of Gravity Falls, Oregon with an intensity that could have put any Tour De France cyclist to shame. He wasn't going fast, though—his gears were on the highest level the poor mountain bike could go. It gave him time to think.

Of course, he knew it from the start that a girl like Pacifica would humiliate him in front of everyone in Gravity Falls. A scene like that just doesn't happen.

* * *

 _"Pacifica, hi!"_

 _The blonde turned, purple dress swaying in the summer wind. "Oh, hi Dipper."_

 _She seemed a little tuned off to his presence. He was confused. Hadn't they spend the last week together...?_

 _"So, uh, Pacifica, there's something I've been meaning to tell you..."_

* * *

"No!"

He gripped his hand brakes hard, sending gravel flying behind him and the bike to a crunching halt in the middle of the road. He gripped his head, unable to release the embarrassing events of an hour past. Without his feet on the ground, the unstable bike fell to its' right. Dipper yelled in frustration and anger as a shot of pain flew through his elbow and knees.

"Godammit!" He shrieked, taking a stone and throwing it as far down the road. "I shoulda known better than to fall in love with a prissy little wine-drinker like her! She's such a... a..."

Dipper's curse flew throughout the forest, loud enough to make a few birds fly away. He fell backwards, rear-first, onto the sharp gravel with a muffled thump. Staring at his hands, he came to a disheartening revelation.

Pacifica was smiling.

She had enjoyed watching him break.

* * *

The redhead was started by a yell. Not even a few feet out the door, she recognized the pained, girlish shriek the instant it reached her sunburned ears. She glanced at a familiar blue and white baseball cap on the living room's coffee table. Her little Dipper was out there. Slipping on her bag, she frowned as she ran out the door of her humble home.

"Dipper!" Wendy Corduroy shouted, coming into the clearing across from her house. The gravel road stretched for miles to her left and right, but a small red figure sitting on the ground to her right signified the boy's presence. She took off running.

Dipper stopped, raising his head and looking around. His eyes met a familiar flannel-clad lumberjill racing down towards him. Rubbing his eyes to remove any of his tears, the 16-year-old boy stood up quickly.

"Hi, Wendy." He greeted, feigning enthusiasm.

The redhead studied him closer. His eyes were reddened, and his burning red ears gave away that he had done some serious thinking in the last hour or so. Without saying a word, she clasped a hand on his shoulder and began leading him on.

"W-Wendy?" He asked, confused as to her action. He stumbled, picking up his bike by the handlebars and setting it upright.

"Walk with me. We're going to the Shack." She stated simply, beckoning him.

The young man sighed, pushing his bicycle along the gravel road.

"So what happened?" The redhead asked after a bit of listening to the rubber tire scrape along the tiny rocks. "Who was it this time?"

"This time?" Dipper croaked. "This is the first time I've ever confessed to anybody."

"Second." Wendy corrected raising her pointer finger. Dipper shied away, fervent blush overcoming him.

She looked over, slapping him on the back. "You need to stop being so hard on yourself, dude."

"How am I gonna get better, then, if I don't push myself to be better?" Dipper asked after a while, looking back at the slightly taller 18-year-old with a look of worry.

She gave him a concise look. Sighing, he returned his wistful gaze to the ground beneath him. "I mean, I feel like Pacifica and I had something. This was the second year in a row I've been here. I talked to her on the phone every day, and I spent Spring Break here... has she been leading me along this entire time?"

"Looks like it." Wendy observed. A quick glance revealed that her quick observation had led to a devastating reality for the boy, and she quickly held her hands out in comfort. "But that's not the point, Dipper."

He said nothing, looking up at her with a dazed sort of frown.

She sighed. "Look, Dipper. I've said it before and I'll say it again. You're one of the most mature people I know. The most mature guy I know, by far. If she doesn't like that, then that's her problem. Second, you're also one of the most adorable people I know. And I'm not talking about the sheep dance."

Dipper frowned, giving her a mean look as she laughed. She was just happy she'd gotten him out of the death-bent mood he had been in seconds prior.

She continued. "Sorry, dude, lock and key... anyway, you're also like, a super cool guy. I'm sure any girl would be absolutely thrilled to be your girlfriend, I'm really sure. But here's the thing: I think most of them are repelled by your love of science and crap. Does that sound right?"

He nodded solemnly. "So then what do I change?"

"Nothing." She stated, the Mystery Shack appearing in the horizon. "You change nothing. You're the perfect guy right how you are. I've dated guys in their twenties now who aren't half the men you are. And you'll get even better when you grow up."

He blushed, rubbing the back of his head. "Thanks, Wendy."

 _No, I thought I was over her by now! Guess not... out of the frying pan, into the fire I guess._

She gave him a sincere grin. "Besides, dude. You don't have to go out of your way to find the girl who loves you as much as you love them. I'm pretty sure some of them are closer than you think."

"Really?" He asked incredulously, his blush diminishing. "Who? Where?"

She nodded, looking at the boy with a sad smile. "Yep. Try right under your nose."


	9. Goodbye, Wendy

Dipper Pines had always hated goodbyes.

Some of the most painful goodbyes he'd experienced happened to be involved with his current place of living, a small town not too far from Portland named Gravity Falls. Currently his third year visiting the Falls, the fifteen-year-old had spent a lot of time in the backwoods and in his great uncle Stanford's laboratory.

He gave a sad look towards his stuffed duffel bag and back to the silver sedan that was his ticket home. His father sat, tapping his hands in the front seat, a sad smile sewn onto his face. Gable Pines Sr. knew what hard goodbyes were like, Dipper guessed.

He gave a sigh, looking up to the woman across from him. The eighteen-year old had a melancholic look on her face as well, but unlike three years ago, she did not have to kneel to give the boy a heartfelt little spiel.

Dipper took a big breath, looking at the redhead. "Wendy... it's been a real nice three years with you."

The lumberjill gave him a sad nod, rubbing the back of her head at her loss for words. "Um, yeah. It has, dude. I mean, a lot of it was spent antagonizing you, but that's not the main point of that."

Dipper chuckled, once again amazed at her sense of humor in such a somber time as this. "Yeah, probably not."

An awkward silence fell between them. The young scientist could make the faintest glimpse of a tear appear on the corner of the hardened redhead's eye. Her upper lip quivered as she struggled to keep her eyes off of him.

It all happened so fast.

Suddenly her arms were around him, and for the first time in Gable Pines Junior's life, he heard Gwendolyn Blerble Corduroy weep.

"I'm gonna miss you so much, dude..." She hiccuped in between bursts of sobs. The surprised boy on the other end stood in shock for a second before finally squeezing the redhead back. He didn't ever want to let go.

"Same here, Wendy." He grumbled in her shoulder, trying his hardest to not let a single tear fall. He noticed his shoulder was getting absolutely drenched in her tears. It wasn't long until her stuttered words became an incomprehensible slew of weeping cries, the events of the past three years with the most amazing guy she'd ever been around compiling like a montage in her head.

He clutched her tighter. "Wendy, I... It's been a great three years. I can't imagine spending that time with anyone else."

She quieted down, turning her head a bit to hear him better through her own tears.

The young man stuttered a bit. "And... a-and you've been really nice to me the entire time. I wouldn't by lying if I said you have been the best friend I've ever had..."

"Hey!" Interjected a hurt Soos, who was quickly hushed by two older men.

Wendy returned her attention to the boy pouring his heart out to him. "I... I know, dude."

"No, you don't," Dipper countered, voice breaking, "because you don't know how many times I've looked to you when i was in trouble or hurting because I knew you'd be there. You're always the chillest and awesome around your friends, and you can be that around me like all the time, but when you need to you transform into this... almost sisterly person that I really need."

"Dipper..."

"And I know this is gonna sound weird, considering my feelings towards you for a long time I'm sure you still know about, but..." He stopped for a second, his breath hitching as he debated saying this out loud.

He decide within seconds. "Screw it. I love you, Wendy. Nothing's changed since that first summer. You've been such a great friend—no, family member—for this entire time, and I was happy to spend this time with you before you head off to college."

He turned to his friend reluctantly. He'd been hiding his harbored feelings for the girl since the back half of the first summer, even after he'd confessed to her for the first time. Of course, he'd tried to kill the stupid crush multiple times, including with the aid of Soos and Mabel, sometimes even Wendy herself. But for some reason it just wouldn't go away.

He wouldn't stop feeling nervous around her. He wouldn't stop getting butterflies every time she laughed with him or her friends.

He wouldn't stop loving her.

His eyes couldn't meet hers. He was ashamed. Tears began flowing freely from him now as the sudden realization of the cowardly move it was confessing to her before she'd never see him again hit him like a two-by-four.

"A-and it's been great knowing you." He turned quickly, releasing himself from her. "I wish the best for you for college, and... and I'm gonna miss you so much—"

A strong embrace caged him from the back. He almost tripped, his stuttering forward motion suddenly halted in a lumberjack's grip. A few stray tears hit he gravel and his boot.

A chin planted itself in between his shoulder blades. The back of his neck felt wet as pressure from the lumberjill's forehead pressed against him.

She was... laughing?

"No, silly..." She sniffed outwardly, planting her face in his back. "I... I still knew. But that doesn't matter because..."

He was turned, finding himself staring back at the puffy red eyes of his three-year crush. She held the largest smile he'd ever seen on his sister-like friend.

"Because... I love you, too, Dipper."

There was silence for a few seconds. Dipper couldn't register what had just been said to him for a second.

 _Wendy... loves... me?_

Twelve boyfriends. Three summers. Approximately thirty-seven days spent comforting her over things happening to her with said boyfriends—nine of them regularly abusive. He'd gone over every day she called him, spending hours, sometimes days by her side. Grunkle Stan and Soos didn't blame him, and neither did Mabel.

He'd go over, see the wretch of sobbing mess that was Wendy, and sit with her for a while, doing nothing but holding her and talking to her. For hours.

He hated seeing her like that.

Wendy had apparently loved every second of it. She was a thoughtful girl. Something along the way probably tore at her heartstrings a lot, and here she was somewhat confessing to a fifteen-year-old as she was about to head off to college.

Huh. Weird.

He looked into her eyes, tears forming in his own, trying to figure out what the emotion was that she was portraying through facial expressions and words.

She laughed after a while. "Is Dipper Pines speechless for the first time ever? Here, dork, lemme fix that for ya..."

Before he even knew it, her lips were on his. Everything stopped. The birds froze, the people around him grayed, and the crickets stopped singing. There was no college—there was no goodbye, there was no confession. There was no father waiting in the car just ten feet from him.

There was Dipper and Wendy.

And that was all that mattered.

"Goodbye, Dipper."

"Goodbye, Wendy."


	10. Keepsake

**So here I am with a little shorter chappie today, mainly focusing on Dipper's thoughts before he returns to Gravity Falls. I thought it would be heartbreaking if the twins didn't return to the falls after that first summer, especially considering what Wendy told him minutes before he crossed the Roadkill County border. 452 words—Enjoy!**

* * *

The old tattered trapper hat sat mere inches from the fifteen-year-old's face. He studied it with the same amount of aplomb he would a textbook before a paper or a microbe during class in Eggbert High School. Of course, it had been tattered when he received it—probably an old Corduroy family gem—but Dipper had tried his darnedest to keep it in pristine condition.

By wearing it everywhere.

It had been nearly three years since the young man had left Gravity Falls, and he still recalled the girl he hadn't seen since the day he left. Gwendolyn Corduroy, despite the near-daily phone calls and bi-weekly video chats, had been completely unseen in person since the day he first left Gravity Falls. Her words still floated like painful stings in the air.

"See you next year."

There was no next year.

Driver's Ed came up in Piedmont early for 13-year-olds, and the young man lost a lot of his summer time to a newfound talent in baseball. Mabel, on the other hand, had gone, and could have spoken for miles about the things she did there and how much the people there missed him. Especially a specific red headed lumberjack princess who seemed to be a bit more melancholy than usual.

The year following preached the same problem, however, a fix was seen clearly. Video chats had become popular late in central Oregon, so when Wendy bought the family's first personal computer, the first thing she did was buy a camera and hope the crappy internet out in the sticks would work for skyping the Piedmont Pine Tree.

They then proceeded to abuse the power of this new communication severely. Minutes, sometimes hours were devoted to the other.

Dipper took a look down at the trapper hat again. May was quickly approaching. Thoughts of that summer and the feelings he held toward the beautiful teenage dream never left him, even throughout these three years.

"This is next summer, Wendy."

He was going to see Wendy again. He had already known that the simple crush he held towards Wendy was no longer considered a petty 'crush' anymore. It was full-blown attraction. How else could he keep it up for three years without ever seeing the girl in person? The thought brought a grin to his face as he examined the few notches in the hat that still held strands of crimson. The thoughts of the Corduroy keepsake tore at the sides of his brain for a few minutes until he came to the conclusion with a smile.

This hat wasn't the keepsake.

This hat meant Wendy.

That summer was his keepsake.


	11. Flannel

**Here's another Wendip short for ya until I catch up with Chapters and TMC, because they're short and easy. Enjoy!**

* * *

"Wendy, why do you like flannel so much?"

The question had taken her off guard. Caught in a wide-mouthed loss for words, she couldn't help but laugh as the curious teen beside her laid by her feet.

Sitting in the old recliner in the Mystery Shack that Stan had still staked a claim to, the twenty-something redhead placed a finger to her chin as she twirled the broken hem of her red flannel jacket. "I don't know, Dipper. Maybe it's just a Corduroy thing."

The bespectacled 17-year-old nodded as he took a munch of burned buttered popcorn into his maw. "I mean, just a question. It's not like you have to answer; it's summertime. There's no grade."

She laughed, giving him a light punch on the shoulder. "Uh, it's no big deal dude. I'm just gonna have to think about it."

The young man nodded, resuming his gaze towards the flickering television across from him. Thoughts circled his head on the origin of the lumberjack's fabric of choice.

Was it maybe the favorite article of clothing of her late mother? He'd known little of Mrs. Corduroy's disappearance, more or less death, ever since he'd arrived at the small lumber town. Wendy herself never talked about her mother, except in offhanded comments that left Dipper wondering if the teenage dream even missed her mother at all.

Or possibly was it the deep connection to her profession and the profession of the Corduroy Clan? Flannel was very popular amongst the stereotypical lumberjack community, especially up in the backwoods of Oregon. As far as he was concerned, having a lumberjack father named Daniel "Manly Dan" Corduroy and a bunch of raucous younger brothers that cut down trees for fun made the Corduroys a stereotypical lumberjack family.

He gave it more thought, staring into the darkness in the hallway across from the television as his vision began to glaze over. It could be her constant need for comfort; for a helping hand in that moment. Flannel was comfortable, and it provided easy movement while also providing a nice touch to the weary body of any worker. He knew the girl was saddened and mildly tortured by the things she saw at home, but he didn't think it was that much. If so, if she needed comfort, he could be that comfort she needed. He'd be the shoulder she could cry on, even though Wendy Corduroy didn't cry. He did. On and about her. But that wasn't relevant.

Actually, it could be—"Nope."

He jerked his head up. "W-what?"

"None of that you just said is correct. It's doodoo. Poopy. Zilch." She made zeroes with her hands as the awful realization hit Dipper like a ton of bricks.

"You mean to tell me I was thinking out loud?!" He almost shouted. As she nodded, he suddenly remembered her offhanded comment about hearing him all the time after their fiasco in the bunker, and the thousands of times he thought things that may have been out loud. His face grew pale.

"...but I will answer the question, Socrates." She told him, sewing the critical loss of color in the face that normally meant that Dipper was having a "Wen-velation" (as Mabel called the sudden realization of Wendy-related thoughts in the still-lovestruck teen's behavior).

As he shook himself to regain composure, she continued. "It's just because I like flannel."

He stared at her for a few seconds. Awe and disbelief were two of the emotions Wendy could put a tag on, the others in the tidal wave of weird feelings he was feeling couldn't be recognized. She moved back a little, waiting for the explosion.

"...WHAT!?" He flew upwards, standing now in front of her with a sad look in his eyes. "You mean to tell me that... AGH! This is just my luck! I figure out who the indigenous people of Gravity Falls were and I can't... ugh. My brain hurts."

He keeled over, holding his head in his hands. His red headed girlfriend laughed heartily before taking the hapless boy in her arms for what would be the second time that day. She had experience with consoling the young scientist. Even if she didn't know exactly what he was feeling distressed about.


	12. Photographic Evidence

**Shorter one again, 542 words. This was inspired by a piece of fan art—we'll see if you can guess which one. Credit goes to the artist of said drawing; I don't wanna give it away.**

 **Where's Mabel, you ask? Why right here! Bwop-wop! More WENDIPPPP HYPPEEEEE**

* * *

Mabel had always known there was something up between her Wen-wen and Brobro during that fourth summer.

It started the day she'd first arrived with her brother back at the county seat of Roadkill County. Soos, for the third time, had welcomed the self-proclaimed Mystery Twins back with open arms. But also in attendance was Wendy. Normally, that wouldn't be considered weird, but she had a pattern of meeting up with the twins on the second day they were back in town. It had been so since the first summer, back when the two met her on the business day after they had first arrived.

She had stood there, smile wider than she had ever seen, waving vigorously for the two. When the two bus doors swiveled open, she had rushed over—and hugged Dipper. Well, hugged isn't strong enough a word. The correct term, in Mabel's eyes, was 'glomped' as Dipper's face was shoved a little too forcefully into Wendy's chest.

Of course, the redhead had tried her best to conceal her little actions towards Mabel's twin, but Mabel's eyes were sharper than 90's cartoon eagles. That is to say they were very sharp.

Dipper wasn't out of the doghouse, either. He seemed a little too enthusiastic upon meeting the lumberjack again. He'd racked up his minutes talking with the redhead weeks before they had even scheduled the trip. The collegiate girl had even come over a few times, and the disappearance of the two almost daily had begun to worry their mother as well as Mabel.

But this summer had all but sealed it.

Mabel had photographic evidence. Oh, did she have evidence. Dipper had always shoved her off, saying most mystery proofs weren't accurate unless provided with a concrete form of proof or photographic evidence.

Her iPhone didn't lie.

There, out by the Gravity Falls lake, on June 23rd, 2016. The sky was shimmering, the lake orange with the sunset, birds chirping and grasshopper singing.

And Dipper and Wendy kissing the hell out of each other.

Yep. It was all there. Just as Mabel had theorized from behind an inconspicuous bush disguise, the two had been in a secret relationship since the end of the previous summer. It all made sense, the common phone calls, the constant texting, the blushes whenever they were around each other, the innuendos... it all made sense.

And now, as she was watching, she couldn't help but feel pride in her swelling cheeks. His neck was outstretched, as he was still a little shorter than the college student at 16. She was mid-laugh, probably from one of his zingers about kissing before she herself initiated said kiss. Her arms were forward, elbows muddied and on the ground as she got a better footing on the shore.

Mabel felt a little dirty watching, but she was fine with it. After all, it took the Beta Twin long enough to get a girl of his own. I mean, it had only taken sixteen years. She remembered to take multiple photos and put them into a folder all to their own, titled "WenDip moments". She chuckled at her clever ship name before hunkering off into the woods behind her.

This was going to make such good blackmail.


	13. Weird

**More short stuff today. I really need to wean myself off of Wendip—this is a Gravity Falls series, after all, and not specifically Wendip. Also—shameless plug: go check out Mothman Chronicles. It's got some Wendip in it.**

 **I'll** **try to cut some Wendip from the next little ficlet next chapter. 412 words on this one. They're getting shorter! Agh!**

* * *

Of course it was weird to her. It was weird to everyone when they thought about it.

Holding on to Dipper's hat became more of a mission than she had originally thought. At first, the whole endeavor was just stealing the poor kid's hat and thinking nothing of it. He was a special kid, yeah. Even she knew that. She'd be lying if she said that back then she didn't hold feelings for the young scientist.

But the age gap between Dipper and herself seemed like too monumental a problem back when they were 12 and 15, even when the he turned 13 at the end of that summer. To a freshman, having feelings for someone who was just entering middle school was almost taboo, something disgusting. Coming off of a guy like Robbie, the last thing she felt she needed was to get feelings for the boy she knew was head over heels for her.

But Wendy felt it.

There was that first sort of pride seeing the boy do crazy things just to be around her, to be with her. At all times. Normally she'd think it creepy, but there was something oddly charming about Dipper's obsession with making her feel like she was important. Lord knows she'd never been with a guy that treated her that way before.

Then there was the pain she felt turning him down that night outside of the bunker. His accidental confession inside the hellhole would have been cute if not for the evil demon that transformed into her. Yeah, she'd turned down countless guys before that. But that time felt different—like it hurt her more than it hurt him. She knew it hurt him a lot, too, because she'd seen it in his eyes. It wasn't depression, dejection, or disappointment. He acted like he'd known she'd do this, but there was that hint of pain in his eyes that made her think twice about leaving without him.

He was the only guy she'd ever think about taking on the apocalypse with. Only a few girls could even say they'd take on an Armageddon with someone, but... there was Dipper. And her. Fighting Bill. Weird.

So when Tambry asked why she still held on to that tattered old baseball cap, she just offered a sad smile and shrugged, saying offhandedly, "I'm waiting for him to get older."

Weird, they all thought. She laughed to herself. Maybe it was weird.

But they did weird.


	14. Say It Again

**So! Wendip week comin' up this April! How many of you are excited? I know I am, Popcat! So here's the deal. I'll be uploading the seven oneshots as a part of this series. Some will be a little NSFW, or something like that, so I'll have the M rating warning before the chapter and you can just skip it. I'll try my best to make some as innocent as possible. I already have a non-lemon idea for 'First Time'.**

 **I've tried it before. I can't write lemons. They're kinda eugh anyway.**

 **Other than that, this series is also not specifically related or in a somewhat canonical sequence. They're all just random crap I stuff onto one story. This is so I can do whatever the heck I want and I can get away with it without posting seventy trillion stories that are just oneshots.**

 **Because who does that?**

 **Anyway, here's a cute little idea I had called "Say it Again". Enjoy!**

* * *

"Say it again."

"Wendy, you're being mean—"

"C'mon, Dipper, please? One more time?"

The room was dark, only lit up by the beaming television screen that was currently displaying the worst movie Gravity Falls had to offer, with an 'abysmally average' rating of 2 out of 100. Wendy was laying down on her stomach next to him, a blanket that was obviously too small for her splayed across her back. He sighed, staring back into those emerald green eyes. There was no way in hell he was going to deny her this simple pleasure, even if it did feel like he was getting the short end of the stick every time he said it.

"Fine. 'I'm in love with you, Wendy.'" Dipper crossed his arms, feeling quite annoyed and used. She had been asking him to say the simple phrase for about a week now, even after the incident in the bunker. To make matters worse, she hadn't said anything more than she originally did outside the hellhole. Instead, she'd just taken to finding some sick sense of pride in the young boy's infatuation with her.

Frankly, he felt like he was getting the short end of the stick.

She giggled insanely, causing him to turn away for the third time that night. What was it that she wanted from him? Did she take some sort of sick enjoyment from his obvious mental pain? Did she enjoy watching him suffer? He didn't dare ask her, as their friendship was more important to him than their romantic relationship, but something felt so horribly off to him that he considered the fact that this may not be a friendship at all anymore.

He'd have to think about it later. Now, she was grasping his hand, and he needed ever bit of analytical knowledge he had to figure out why.

A year later, as the sweet summer sun set down in Gravity Falls once again, a now 13-year old Dipper found himself in a predicament similar to the one of the past year.

"Say it again. One more time."

He groaned, leaning back in his office chair he had somewhat stolen from his great uncle's boat. The redhead in question simply giggled from across his room on his bed, half asleep and dead tired from a recent expedition that saw both her and Dipper in a fight for their lives. Not too dissimilar from a certain adventure last year. However, given the time they had returned home, she had decided to stay over at the Mystery Shack for that night.

And of course, she just had to take Dipper's room, forcing him to sleep on the floor.

She was so nice to him.

"Wendy, why do I keep having to do this?" He implored with outstretched and tired arms. "I feel like you're using me here, and I don't like being used."

Again, all the lumberjack princess did was laugh, strutting over in a sultry way (much to the hastening of Dipper's heartbeat) and tapping him on his upside-down forehead.

"Because I like hearing you say that you love me." Was her simple answer as she embraced him in an awkward, sleepy, upside-down hug. Dipper said nothing during this foreign experience, although his thoughts were going many places and none were staying put.

Eventually, Dipper lost the mental battle. "Fine. I love you, Wendy."

Two years later, after a jump over what would have been his third year due to a science camp in Utah, Dipper found himself on the other side of a compromising situation as Wendy had called in a panic over a bear in her house. He had hardly set his bags down from the bus when he rushed over like a would-be hero. Eventually, Dipper found that she had (mostly) repelled the hungry and out of sorts beast on her own, leaving him to stand outside her cabin like a dork until she walked out.

When she did, she quickly embraced him for absolutely no reason whatsoever and continued to do so until he finally implored why.

"Because I missed you all year, you dork." She had answered.

He knew that wasn't the answer, because she continued like a rambling madman. "And I also wanted you to say the thing again."

He sighed. There was no way he was getting out of this. He was a smart boy, he knew that. He embraced the college-bound teen once more and repeated the saying he had gotten used to repeating around her as of the last three years.

"I love you Wendy."

Before she was able to walk off and act like nothing ever happened like a crazy woman, he stopped her, grabbing her hand. He didn't expect to see her blush the deepest shade of red he'd ever seen her blush, and the sudden realization hit him like a club from a manotaur.

"...now you say it."

Dipper Pines smiled because Dipper Pines had figured Wendy out. Of course she liked him. It all made sense. The random escapades with the young man all throughout those two summers. The compromising and inappropriate situations she would put herself in just to see him blush and stutter. The constant asking for his reconfirmations about his undying crush (and/or more) for her.

Wendy Corduroy really liked Dipper Pines.

"I... I..." She stuttered, looking to find words. She was a flipping Corduroy. She didn't lose. She didn't ever lose. It was kinda her thing. So how did Dipstick catch on and learn her game, eventually coming to an advantage? He had her cornered, and they both knew it. She wanted to wipe the stupid grin off of his face, but she knew he had deserved at least that much.

"I... I love you too, Dipper."

There was no going back. The friendzone had been obliterated like a Pitt Cola can filled with black cat firecrackers. He couldn't help but laugh in this situation. Nothing made sense, and nothing would in Gravity Falls. But then again, there was a pattern to adhere to.

"Say it again." He whispered softly as he embraced her for a final time. She giggled, her crimson hair sparkling in the Oregonian in like a woodland wildfire. Oh, how he loved that hair. How her emerald eyes accentuated her stupid little adorable freckles that he just wanted so much. She had leaned in instead, kissing him softly on the open and surprised mouth before taking to laughing again like some sort of deranged angel.

"No."

* * *

 **XD GET DENIED DIPSTICK!**

 **Lol, anyway, yeah. Lookin' forward to that Wendip Week. I'll see ya next chapter.**


	15. 21 Summer

**Recently I heard a song by the Brothers Osborne, and I couldn't help but think of this idea. Basically, this is an AU (probably) where the twins don't return after the first summer. This is a 15-year-old Dipper writing to a now college-bound Wendy. Enjoy.**

* * *

Dear Wendy Corduroy,

Now and then I'll think about you up here in Piedmont. I know it's been two years since I've seen you, and it may sound really weird, especially coming from me, but... I miss you, Wendy. Mabel and I both do.

Today I saw a mannequin in a department store Mabel had dragged me to. It was wearing a trapper hat similar to the one you always wore during that summer. The hat is sitting on my desk at home—I haven't let a single soul touch it. Mabel tried to take it and tease me about it the first week we got back, but I guess I kinda exploded at her cuz she hasn't touched it since. Anyway, the mannequin made me think a little about you back in Gravity Falls and it made me feel kinda guilty.

The letter you had everyone sign is sitting untouched underneath your hat. That broken promise of a 'next summer' rang so hard last summer that it physically hurt. Ask Mabel. I didn't speak for days. Weeks, probably. The second summer with you guys up there wasn't so bad, but that was mainly because my parents bought me a new game console out of consolation.

My absence deserves an excuse. After Mabel got a bit too loose with her stories about Gravity Falls and, more importantly, Grunkle Stan, they didn't want us returning. Then with my driver's license in 2014, I couldn't go either.

So here I am, two years removed, talking to you through a cowardly piece of paper. I bet you hate me now. I bet all of you hate me now. Soos, Melody, Robbie, the guys, Tambry... hell, probably even the gnomes miss our sorry asses at this point. And you don't know how bad I feel and how sorry I am for that. I miss all of you, truly. Even Geoff. Though considerably less.

Back to the hat. Sometimes I'll look at it and remember the times we spent together. We were quite a pair, weren't we? Running up and down those streets, going on those adventures, pranking poor Thompson. I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss those bad movies we watched in your house. We had no cares in the world, having fun like summer would last forever.

Keep in mind, this is three years ago. Any normal fifteen-year-old would have an excuse for this, but me? I think we both know by now that I'm not exactly normal, Wendy. It's been so long now that it breaks me.

I hope you found that guy that's special for you. I got to see how ugly a breakup can be with your experience with Robbie, and lord knows I don't want to see it again. Especially with you. I know this sounds weird coming from me, especially with that revelation we came to outside the bunker. I know you've always looked down on me as a close friend and not in that way, but I hope it didn't deter you from considering me a friend long after I was gone.

I hope you found that career you needed so badly. Being a lumberjack is exactly what your dad wanted you to be, I know. Dan can be a sturdy man at all times. But deep down, despite being a goddess at it, I know you didn't want to cut down trees for a living. Why else would you be working in the Mystery Shack instead of at the logging camp? We both know it wasn't because you were lazy. (Although that is a part of it.)

And then I remember the night outside the bunker. Things were said and we both connected and separated, staying together but going our separate ways. I know you knew that I didn't stop having a crush on you after that say, and I continued to until the end of that summer. We'll get back to that later.

Sometimes I'll hear that country song you always liked back then, humming softly in the back of my mind or through the speakers of my new car over the radio.

I turn it up full blast.

I remember your hair blowing in the wind as we had that picnic on the top of the plateau, overlooking the falls and the town in general. You had your iPod with you, playing that on replay the entire time, saying it represented us. I was too naïve and young to realize what that song was about at the time, but I get it now.

That '12 summer was a blast, wasn't it?

So, yeah. How've you been? I haven't heard from you much other than those scattered texts I've been receiving after that first summer. I know it hurt you a lot to know that we weren't coming back, but I didn't think you'd shun me altogether. I know it's my fault, and I'm terribly sorry. But I'm looking at it now... we've only talked six times since I got on that bus back to Piedmont.

I regret ever leaving.

You're the only girl that's ever given me a broken heart, and you're the only girl who I'd be willing to come back to.

There it is. I said it. After three damned years and only six conversations, I still love you the same as I did back in that '12 summer. I know it's weird—I've already gone over this a million times in my head. Why do I still love you? I don't know. I attribute it to the fact that you're literally the best girl I've ever known, and the only one to ever reach out to me instead of turning away in disgust.

And I know as much as you'd hate to admit it, you love me too. In some way.

You treated me different than the rest of your friends. You treated me with softness, a sort of care and closeness I only saw (and see) with people in a romantic relationship. It's no wonder I failed when I tried to 'kill the crush' as Mabel put it.

It's because I've never been in love with someone this strongly before. And I don't think I ever will.

That last normal night before we left, I remember telling you one more time that I still loved you. You shrugged it off like you always did, probably thinking it was a phase and we'd both move on with our lives. But I saw that look in your eyes, and it gave me hope for the future. You cared for me more than you cared for anybody else in our crew, and as much as you probably hated to admit it, you loved me. But the only thing in your way was our age. For a twelve and fifteen year old, it was a big deal. I get that.

But now is it?

Agh, I'm sorry for bringing that up. It's weird, yeah, so I'm gonna end my little novel here. Before you go off to college and probably never hear from me again, I just wanted to say this.

Wendy, you were the greatest girl I've ever known and you are still the coolest person I've ever met. After three years and seventeen (I counted) attempts to get over you, I still haven't been able to forget that feeling I felt when you hugged me that last night, with hour autumn hair blowing in the breeze behind you as you cried your final tears for that summer.

I'm gonna miss you, Wendy. I'll never know a girl as cool and as wonderful as you.

I still love you.

But I guess that's my problem, isn't it? I'm getting a little too sentimental and creepy here... I guess it's good that you'll never see me again, right?

Agh. I can't say that. We will meet again, won't we? As friends? I really just want to talk to you again. You're my best friend, Wendy. I can't stand to lose you. Ignore that one smudgy spot above, that's not a tear drop, it's sweat.

Well. Here it is. Goodbye, Wendy. I miss you and I love you. Still. Have a good college.

Have a good life.

Dipper

* * *

Wendy set the paper down, tears she didn't even know existed rolling down her cheeks before she could catch them. She never knew. She never knew. Now, she had to find Dipper. The clock on her bed said 5:42. She didn't have to leave until tomorrow at noon. She could make a quick trip to Piedmont just to see him again.

She smiled a bit, sneaking past her father's room and outside, igniting the pickup truck and rolling in. Little did her little Dipstick know, that letter was exactly what she needed to cement a pretty tough mental battle that had been waging for two or three years straight.

"'12 Summer, huh?" She asked herself, pulling out of the driveway still in her sleepwear. Smiling, she turned south.

"We'll be talking about the '15 summer before too long."


	16. The End

**I've got another one for you today. TMC's next chapter, Bridge, is being worked on, but in the meantime, I wrote this little ficlet. Enjoy!**

* * *

He wasn't normally an emotional man. In fact, he almost never showed any form of expression nowadays. Especially with the recent near-apocalypse. But now, as he stood across from the woman he would never see again, he felt the first tears of his sixteen years burn at his eyes and tighten his throat.

The night was perfect, to an outsider. The chilled autumn breeze had entered the summer valley just like a newcomer to the town would have. The tall California redwood trees did not waver, though, staying strong like iron pillars erected towards the sky. The sherbet sky seemed to agree, stoic and unmoving with its fluffy candy clouds.

"Well." The woman across from him began awkwardly. "It's been great, man."

He nodded solemnly. "It definitely has."

The wind blew between them, not breaking their depressed stare towards each others' eyes. Something would be missing from their lives for the rest of them, they knew. They'd never known another person like the one standing three feet from them.

He sighed, twiddling his fingers and staring at his boots. He loved the girl so much. Throughout that summer, their bond had strengthened their bond to that comparable to a married couple. Daily sleepovers became a reoccurrence, stretching hours into the night spurred on by cheerful laughter and longing looks.

She didn't know how she'd live without him. He was much more than the little brother she had originally thought him as. Yes, the two and a half years that separated them had been much more of an obstacle in their younger years. But now, she knew without a doubt that she loved her partner-in-crime more than she loved anyone else. The countless days and hours of quality time with him made her realize that over the past few years. She came to the sudden realization during one of their sleepovers.

She was normally the talkative one, he recalled to himself. She started every conversation they'd ever had, from day one to day zero. Four summers of joking, laughing, surprisingly serious conversations and silent confirmations of his love for her flashed through his mind's ear like a broken record, skipping and repeating but never reaching an end.

Now, he saw, she was reduced to silence.

He broke it with every bit of slowed determination he had left. "Yeah. I'm... I'm gonna... I'm gonna miss you so much."

He was her rock. Sure, for the four summers she'd known him, he'd been more of an introvert and more awkward. He'd stuttered and tripped his way through their friendship, mishaps and mistakes dotting their relationship throughout the years. She, on the other hand, was the strong extrovert, saving him multiple times and somehow coming through with an inner toughness no man knew.

She was crying now.

"I'm gonna miss you too!" She cried, shallowly breathing through tears and sniffles. She lunged, grabbing his shoulders with no intent of ever letting go. He stumbled, shocked, but dare not leave his arms bare either. He clenched them around her in one melancholically firm hug, crying the tears he promised himself he'd never let out in front of her.

He broke for her. Now, then, and furthermore into the future, he'd broken himself on her expense multiple times. He'd messed up along the way, too. He'd been too possessive once or twice. He couldn't come up with the right words more than once. He'd even summoned a demon to keep her safe. She had to help him banish it to hell, but it was all good in the end.

The screeching brakes of the bus entered his ears like an unwanted nuisance. He had to go home. He needed to get a grip, but there was nothing to hold on to.

He pushed himself softly from her shoulder, gazing into her emerald eyes one last time before staring at her intently. She cocked her head, confused, tears still gracing her freckled cheeks.

"Goodbye..." He almost whispered, eyeing her puckered lips longingly. Her breathing hitched, and she crept closer, inching towards his face.

He moved in closer, breath having caught in his throat long before. He didn't care about the bus. The chirping birds silenced, and the wind ceased to surge. The colors of the autumn leaves behind her cascading hair grayed in comparison to her eyes and face.

They rested foreheads together, tension rising. They wanted this. No, they needed this. Both of them did. The simple look they shared gave them more than what a thousand words couldn't say. Soundlessly and wordlessly, they both shared their love for each other.

And then he broke off, their cold lips never touching.

He made his way for the bus, jaw clamped shut through the fiery pain of sadness. He turned once, giving her a silent and sullen goodbye, before soundlessly entering the dark of the bus and exiting from her life forever.

She waved from the other side of the black tinted windows, not even bothering to chase a lost cause. The bus squealed away, taking her one and only from her one last time.

* * *

"Boo!"

Stray bullets of popcorn hit the television screen as the credits rolled past. A fairly unhappy Dipper and Wendy sat on the other side of the dramatic scene. Wendy's blanket she had shrouded herself in had not protected herself from the agony of the end of the television series, and her halted tears showed her anger at the ending more than words could.

Dipper, however, chose to use his words, using a few choice expletives as he emptied the remainders of his 2-gallon bag of greased corn kernels onto her new flatscreen television. "That freaking sucked!"

"I know, dude!" She turned to him quickly. "They totally wanted to kiss there."

Dipper shoved his hand towards the black screen. "Yeah! That was crap! Why would the director do that to us! That jackass!"

Wendy stood in anger, her shroud falling from her and revealing her oversized tee and athletic shorts she wore to sleep. "I can't believe it. I won't believe it. That's not the real ending of Mystery Peaks, I won't allow it!"

Dipper sat, holding his temples. "Ohh... That whole relationship was what this entire series was built on! This entire show was shouldered by their awkward teen romance! How else would he have defeated those reincarnated Roman warriors if she wasn't beside him? Or, or the vampires?"

She crossed her arms. "I'm sending a very angry letter to 21st Decade Wolf tomorrow. 'Hello. Name's Wendy. Your show, Mystery Peaks, has ruined my life with its bullcrap ending and I request a new one where Dustin and Wynona get together.'"

Dipper laughed, hugging her leg through tired eyes. "Yeah, I'm sure that will work."

She calmed down, sitting down into her boyfriend's embrace. "Agh. Now we gotta find a new Netflix series. One that, preferably, doesn't end like a pile of steaming moose sh–"

"Calm down, Wendy." He grabbed her waist tighter, leaning into her shoulder. "We'll figure it out tomorrow."

Minutes after he fell asleep, Wendy was still staring at the empty screen, trying to figure out just what about that scene seemed eerily familiar to her. She ended up shrugging, rolling back into Dipper's sleepy embrace and settling on the notion that whatever was similar to that in her life probably had a much different ending.


End file.
